Contact Information 


Back


Home



















































































































Contact Information                     


Back


Home

Design

DOUG DANFORTH

GRAND

VISUALS

PORTFOLIO:


Hotel hall arch and sconce: A thirties office building, converted to apartments in the seventies, and now at last, a hotel in the new millennium. Long, white hallways were uncomfortably reminiscent of hospital corridors; and poorly illuminated enough, that with any color added, they would definitely become dangerously dark. The concrete coated Styrofoam was installed over electrical conduit, providing power for the sconces that would be inset on the sides. Performed in an art deco ‘waterfall’ design, the arches give a break to long expanses, with walls finished in copper on the lower to enhance upper spaciousness.


Field stone fireplace: Each ‘stone’ was hand-shaped and carved in place with construction plaster. Upon curing, the stones were then ‘mortared’ in, and that was that. The plaster cures to this color, and becomes very durable. The mantle, originally attached sections of molding, was re-built with boxes of wood wrapped in cement board, then covered with the same ‘stone’ segments.


Market liquor department: Formerly a pink beauty salon, these series of gutted rooms were to become the liquor department in a new upscale downtown market. Suspended ceilings were removed, and replaced with carved Styrofoam crown molding and column wrap finished in old copper, set at three feet from the original ceiling. Above that point, all was painted flat black to diminish utilities. Period lighting is suspended to that same level; and at the new center of the room –  this support column, now the ‘elephant in the room’ – was decided to become the local beauty, and refinished as an imported marble column, with hammered bronze capital. 


Theatre lobby doors: A century-old church was converted to a theatre and restaurant in the seventies. The lobby access to the main hall, as well as all the trim, baseboards, wainscoting, and staircases were softwoods, different species according to the use, and all varnished a hundred years ago in a mahogany color. In the last half of that century, the varnish ‘gatored’ and turned dark, and the various corners and frequently trod portions were chipped, broken and cracked. I was commissioned to repair and return the woods via faux to a uniform and rich grained species of sienna-hued mahogany.


Market great room: High, expansive ceilings were given a reduction in grandiosity with a fashionable grid work applied evenly over the black base. While we were up there, over a hundred eye bolts were installed in the ceiling for options of hanging banners and marketing display foundations for information, departmentalizing and special events announcements.


Home office mahogany ceiling: Installed over two weekends, this custom made expanded styrene and PVC ceiling was an enormous alteration of ‘just a space.’ Weighing in at about forty pounds, it was not a support issue, required no permits, and has yet to be discovered for what it is, if we can get the owner to quit bragging about the truth. 


Cantera negra stone mantle: Two matching columns are here, the remains of what used to be there; but a whole mantle is desired. First you establish a uniform height, install capital rings on the columns, then a box with concrete board bottom that sets level, and add moldings consistent with what one would expect to find on a stone mantle. Cover with a carvable substrate, texture, paint, and voila! with a little luck, no one will know don’t have a complete stone fireplace surround. The flanking cabinets were white, and became old walnut in about a week.

Site Photo Credits: Danny Warner, Carlos Flannery, Andrea Heitke, Doug Danforth.